Saturday, February 26, 2011

We're Watching The Drowning Of The Middle Class In The Bathtub

Roslyn, WA Labor Day Parade early 1900's

Yet most Americans have no clue.

Your grandparents fought and in many cases actually died for the right to collectively bargain for their wages and working conditions. Today all over the country in places like Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, Oklahoma, and even here in what was once a virtual bastion of the American labor movement Washington State the far right is seizing the opportunity to defile your grandparent's legacy.

The corportate oligarchy and moral criminals like the Koch brothers and the lackey politicians they control can't wait to perform the final coup de grace on the rights of working people, who only want a say in what their working conditions should be. These blow hards relish turning back the clock to the late 1800's when workers suffered widespread exploitation and mistreatment while weak and divided.

Paul Krugman has an enlightening piece on the Wisconsin situation and how it is not just about collective bargaining. The legislation that Governor Walker wants passed, without compromise, also calls for the stripping of many other government guarantees and processes. This all hidden behind the well developed employer tactic of divide and conquer and turning one worker against another and budget cutting. The philosophy that workers have no real right to a decent piece of the economic pie. While these corporate pigs gorge themselves. Those who feel you may be immune from exploitation, sitting there in a false state of rugged individualism, get ready because you'll be the ones they come for next.